Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Come Rain or Come Shine

We started off a cloudy and blissfully cool morning with breakfast and the end of that Family Feud Hollywood Walk of Fame week. The men finally won a game in the first episode after having lost the first three to the women. Didn't do badly on the Fast Money, either. The ladies made a major comeback in the second episode, taking the Fast Money and the entire week.

Jessa picked us up around 11 AM again. This time, we went a little further beyond Deptford to the outlet mall in Blackwood. While it wasn't busy like it had been when we went there last year on Memorial Day weekend, there were still quite a few people around. Maybe it was the day. It was sort-of sunny, with a half-hearted blue-gray sky and a cool wind that was barely in the 70's. At least the gorgeous fountains were running, providing a tinkling background as we headed down the sidewalk.

We made our first stop of the day at The Loft, Jessa didn't buy anything here, but Lauren found two shirts, and I picked up a mock turtleneck in a pretty, relatively subdued green, red, and black plaid that was $9.99 after having been marked down twice. None of us found anything at a quiet Eddie Bauer.

Since we were already down that way, we had lunch at Friendly's next. We shared the mini mozzarella sticks. Lauren went with the Philly cheese steak melt and a vanilla Fribble (milkshake). Jess had a tuna roll and scoops of butter pecan ice cream. I kept things simple with the lunch special - a small bowl of broccoli cheddar soup, half of a turkey club melt, and a strawberry cheesecake Friend-Z (vanilla soft-serve with strawberries and pound cake). It was all delicious, and it disappeared quickly. Thankfully, they weren't busy at all this time, possibly because we came in just as the lunch hour began.

Jess and Lauren and I were in and out of stores for the next hour. We just browsed in Toys and Socks and Go! Toys and Calendars. No one picked up anything at the Gap or J. Crew, but Jess bought a shirt at Old Navy. I finally found more underwear at Lane Bryant, this time buy three, get three free. 

After we left the mall, we drove across the street to Dave & Buster's. This is pretty much the same idea as Round 1, but the bowling alley is replaced by a sports bar, there's few crane games with cheaper merchandise, and it costs a little less to get in. I spent another noisy hour running from ring toss to whack-a-clown to Monopoly spin the dice to the wheels with the levers you shove down. Their skee ball was working, so I played that too. Actually got Princess Peach on Mario Kart Deluxe this time; came in second. Didn't do nearly as well on Crusin' Blast, despite driving a sweet red vintage 50's vehicle. Did much better on Pac Man than Space Invaders. I even tried basketball and actually managed to make three baskets.

I made over 3,200 points again, enough for a big stuffed Good Luck Bear and a genuine Eagles football. It's a really nice football, too, very well-made and only slightly smaller than regulation. I almost got Grumpy instead of Good Luck, but I decided I needed all the luck I could get.

Jess dropped Lauren and I back at home around 4. It was still too early for dinner, so we played Password for an hour or so. I'm really having fun with that. No wonder the game remains popular on TV to this day. It's a lot harder than it looks to describe a word, and we're just describing words, not keeping score or playing by the same rules as on TV.

Finally went out to dinner around 5:30. It was still pretty early, but I wanted to dodge the weather. Clouds moved in during our last hour at the Outlets. It showered lightly and briefly on the way back to Oaklyn, and would do so again as we walked to Capitol Pizza on the White Horse Pike. We shared a small but tasty half-pepperoni, half-mushroom pizza while listening to the local news on Channel 10.

I wanted to introduce Lauren to Los Amigos Bakery. I'd been trying to get us there all week, but we kept getting in too late or didn't feel up to walking there. She bought a slice of tiramisu and a container of raspberry sandwich cookies. I bought a slice of coconut cake and a mixed cookie container that included linzer tarts, chocolate chip, and oatmeal. 

The showers were picking up a bit as we headed down the White Horse Pike to Dollar General. We promised last week that we'd pick up a pack of larger paper plates for a friend. I bought Kind granola bars, a Coke Zero, and more of the electrolyte Sonic limeade mix. She got a Pepsi Zero and a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar. 

Watched Match Game Syndicated while we had dessert. Poor Eva Gabor lost her toenail when an overly-enthusiastic contestant kicked her foot after she won him money. At least she was a good sport about it! In the second episode, we skipped to the next week as Patty Duke showed off her plush new fur coat. Brett finally had a reason to be in the spotlight in the third episode when the audience gave her a standing ovation after she was the only one who matched the contestants. Brett, Alfie Wise, and Betty White toss a lot of farmer jokes at Charles when he turns up wearing a straw cowboy hat.

Finished the night at Tubi with Hello Again. I go further into this uniquely adult exploration of sexuality across history at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

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